SPOILER ALERT!
What did everyone think?
The world was expanded a bit. Another survivor community. A surprise twist. A new villain.
Should Rick and the gang fight Neegan?
What say you, 3.5 readers?
Bookshelf Battle
The only site where new bestsellers are forced to do battle for space on a nerd's bookshelf.
Tag Archives: the walking dead
The Walking Dead – S5:E10 – “The Next World”
Holy Crap, 3.5 readers!
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
Seemed like it was coming for awhile but no one was ever sure but bam, it happened. Rick and Michonne got it on, did the hibbitty dibbitty horizontal mambo and breathed fresh life into Dr. King’s dream amidst the zombie apocalypse.
“Richonne” is now a thing. Good for them.
What’s up with this Jesus guy?
The Walking Dead – Season 6, Episode 9 – “No Way Out”
Hey 3.5 Readers.
The Walking Dead is back!
SPOILER ALERT!
Wow. The general consensus is this is one of the best episodes of the series, perhaps the most emotional one.
We lost some recurring characters. Jessie, Ron, Sam – the whole porch dick family is gone.
Rick’s Valentine’s Day was ruined. He really wanted some Jessie action.
Carl’s eye is gone. Poor Carl.
Father Gabriel had a redemption moment.
The Alexandrians had their stand.
Dale has replaced his crossbow with a rocket launcher.
What say you, 3.5 readers?
Walking Dead Midseason Finale
I thought it was one of the top Walking Dead episodes I’ve seen thus far.
I do wonder though – if escaping the walkers is as easy as whipping on a zombie guts poncho, why don’t they just always have zombie guts soaked ponchos on standby to throw on in the event of a zombie attack?
What did you think, 3.5 readers?
Losers Seeking Redemption
I’ve conducted an analysis of every story idea I’ve ever had and there’s one key theme:
Losers seeking redemption.
3.5 READERS: But BQB, every story is about a loser seeking redemption.
Not really. It depends on how low of a loser we’re talking about. Mine are pretty low.
Luke Skywalker may have been a poor farm boy, but he could have told Obi Wan to stick his light saber where the sun don’t shine and taken over his Aunt and Uncle’s farm, rejecting the Jedi life altogether had he wanted to. He could have lived a comfortable life. He didn’t do anything wrong or dumb or stupid that he needed to make up for in order to feel like his life had meaning.
Rick Grimes isn’t a loser. He’s just a dude driven to extremes by a harsh new world. But he didn’t do anything he needed to make up for. Sure, his wife and friend got it on but that was after they thought he was dead (for five minutes) and if anything that reflects badly on them not him.
So most stories are about characters facing difficult decisions but they aren’t starting out as losers. All of my heroes start out as losers and the objective seems to be a way for them to not be losers anymore.
Hate to say it, but I’m a loser seeking redemption.
Are you a loser seeking redemption? I wish you the best of luck on your path, loser.
SPOILERS!!!This Week’s The Walking Dead
Hello 3.5 readers.
What did you think of this week’s Walking Dead?
SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!!
What did you think about Glenn? I need to cut out the pizza because I couldn’t fit under a dumpster in a zombie apocalypse.
What was up with those balloons? Why was there a helium tank and green balloons on the side of the road? Did a wandering clown abandon them?
The wall is down! Is it me or do Rick and the gang screw up wherever they go?
I have a theory that someone else will die. Our emotions were toyed with vis a vis Glenn for too long for it all to be wrapped up that neatly.
Will they save Alexandria? Is it done for?
Theory: Abraham saves the day by blowing all the zombies sky high with his newly found rocket launcher.
What say you, 3.5 readers?
The Writer’s Battle – Are Readers In Control?
Happy Sunday, 3.5 readers.
Bookshelf Q. Battler here.
I just read this CNN article in which George Lucas says he’s “done with Star Wars.”
“You go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized,” Lucas told Vanity Fair. “People try to make decisions about what you’re going to do before you do it. It’s not much fun. You can’t experiment. You have to do it a certain way.” – CNN
ON THE ONE HAND – I see his point. The great part of the Internet is that nerdy fans can comment and discuss their favorite movies, TV shows, books etc.
The downside is that its a great environment to make a lot of back seat drivers. “No! Those two characters can’t fall in love and WHAT?! You’re going to kill off so and so and WHAT that guy changed his mind and he’s no longer a bad guy now?!”
Hollywood listens to all this mumbo jumbo. Sometimes that turns out well when the fans know what they are talking about. Other times it falls flat when a director or actor or someone puts the kibosh on an idea that’s a little out there, beyond the norm, that would have paid off big time but they didn’t want to draw the fans’ ire.
Probably the most recent example I can think of is the latest Avengers movie in which Black Widow kicked ass all throughout the film and fans were like “Joss Whedon’s anti-woman! He didn’t give her enough to do!” Boo. Bad nerds.
ON THE OTHER HAND – The CNN article linked to above went on to say:
“The issue was ultimately, they looked at the stories, and they said, ‘We want to make something for the fans,’ ” Lucas said, presumably referring to Disney, which purchased Lucasfilm — including the “Star Wars” franchise — in 2012. “People don’t actually realize it’s actually a soap opera, and it’s all about family problems; it’s not about spaceships. So they decided they didn’t want to use those stories. They decided they were going to do their own thing, so I decided, ‘fine. … I’ll go my way, and I let them go their way.’ ” – CNN
Pbbbhhht. Well, true – Star Wars does have a lot to do with that damn dysfunctional Skywalker family…BUT, did we really need that Sound of Music-ish scene in Attack of the Clones where Anakin and Queen Amidala prance around in love in the field? No. More lightsabers and space ships please.
Revenge of the Sith was pretty solid, and when I was younger, I enjoyed The Phantom Menace and Clones mostly because I was just happy to see Jedis back on the screen.
But let’s be honest, those films were more about loading up on as many quirky, merchandisable characters as possible just to sell kids toys.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Bills need to be paid and that’s what these new films will do as well BUT I have a hunch that it will be done in a way that fans will be like “that was badass!” and “wow what a badass toy!”
The nerdy adults will be anyway. If your kids are yelling “badass!” they probably need a time out.
I get Lucas’ frustration though. It must suck to create this wonderful universe, bring it to the big screen, become the modern day father of science fiction and then be told by your fans that you, the creator of your own universe, are doing a bad job of running your universe.
That’s probably how Darth Vader felt when those pesky rebels started calling for rebellion.
SIDENOTE: One other example of fans taking over that I’ve seen lately comes from The Walking Dead.
SPOILER ALERT – REPEAT: SPOILER ALERT
Did you notice there’s a spoiler alert in effect? OK don’t say you weren’t warned.
Glenn may or may not be dead. The writers of the show have made it look like he totally is, but also left it open to a possible interpretation that he might not be.
Fans have been up in arms on social media, complaining that they have to wait to find out, how dare the writers toy with their emotions like this and so on.
I’m going to channel my inner Uncle Hardass and say, “get a job, hippies!” Hell, I love that show as much as the next guy. I’ve invested a lot of time into it. But when it appeared that Glenn died my reaction was “Awww, that’s too bad…*pause for 5 seconds* OK I better brush my teeth and get ready for bed.”
Seriously, who has time to worry about the fate of a fictional character? JOBLESS HIPPIES WHO NEED A JOB AT THE SALT MINES, THAT’S WHO!!!
Wow. I’m becoming an Uncle H. clone
What say you, 3.5 readers? Who calls the shots, readers or writers?
Personally, it’d be a great problem to have. I only have 3.5 readers and none of them have started calling the shots yet.
I suppose when I reach the point where people are like “We want more Yeti!” or “Alien Jones is like a hairless ALF, you hack!” then I’ll know I’ve made it.
Get bossier, 3.5 readers. Actually, please don’t.
This Season of The Walking Dead
Hey nerds,
I haven’t had a chance to write about it and my old pal Zombie Trump has been busy, but I just wanted to ask what everyone thinks about this season. I think its turning out to be one of the better ones so far.
What say you, 3.5 readers?
#31ZombieAuthors – Day 23 Interview – Peter Cawdron – Outsmarting Zombies
FIND THIS ZOMBIE AUTHOR ON:
My guest today is Peter Cawdron, who comes from the land down under. I don’t have to pay the Men At Work a royalty for saying that because Peter is an honest to God Australian zombie enthusiast.
Peter’s the author of the Z is for Zombie series of books which include What We Left Behind and All Our Tomorrows. These books tell the story of teenager Hazel, who in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, searches for Steve, David, and Jane, the only people who ever understood her.
An avid fan of such classic science fiction writers as Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Crichton, Peter is also a prolific science fiction author in his own right.
I wonder if there’s an extra charge to call Australia? Aw screw it, the bill for this phone goes to Alien Jones anyway.
G’day Peter.
NOTE: BOLD=BQB; ITALICS=Peter
Q. I just discovered that my perpetually angry uncle, who I thought never understood me, is in fact, the only person who ever understood me and what I need to make it in the world. Unfortunately, he’s dead, though he visits me in ghost form from time to time. Your protagonist, Hazel, feels like only three people understand her. Is she really that confounding or is it typical teenage “no one gets me” angst?
A. Teenage angst is cliche, and yet there is an element of personal growth we all go through where we’re learning about the world afresh. I don’t know that it stops as an adult, at least, it shouldn’t. It hasn’t for me. I’m always learning, and not just intellectually. Emotional learning is often more important than facts or figures. I think that’s one reason why coming-of-age books have such universal appeal. It’s a chance to re-learn and renew, regardless of how old we may be.
In my novel What We Left Behind and the sequel All Our Tomorrows, we see life through the eyes of a teenager struggling toaccept the end of the world, fighting to make a change. All too often, it is the upcoming generation that is the catalyst for change. Us old farts need to respect that, listen and understand. It’s the youth of today that can change tomorrow, and that’s the message common to my novels as well as books like Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and so many others. Change is good. It’s the status quo that’s scary.
Q. As a zombie fan, I’ve noticed that in most zompoc tales, zombies are never referred to as “zombies.” They’re “walkers” or “the undead” or “creepers” and so on but never zombies. Your characters refer to them as “Zee.” Why is that? Is “zombie” too informal? Will we ever crack open a novel where a writer has a character saying, “Holy crap! It’s a zombie!”
A. Oh, they’re called zombies in What We Left Behind as well as Zee, but Zee makes things more personal, and I think that’s important. Zombie stories are notorious for being impersonal. Survivors are often portrayed as brutal if not more brutal than the zombies themselves, whereas zombie stories are really about survivors. And what is a zombie but a survivor that fell and failed. Zee makes that more poignant, reminding the reader that zombies aren’t simply cannon fodder. To the survivors, they once were as we are, and the term Zee keeps that fresh in mind.
Q. How did you get into the zombie craze?
A. My kids love The Walking Dead, and I enjoy it too, but I get frustrated with the inaccuracies. Gasoline, as an example, has a shelf life of about nine months. Diesel’s a little better, but will be pretty nasty after a couple of years. So at some point everyone’s going to be walking, or riding bicycles or horses. The SUV might look like the ultimate zombie killing machine, but it’s not sustainable, so in All Our Tomorrows, they drive around in a Tesla with the doors stripped off and the seats torn out to keep the weight down, charging the car with solar panels. For me, it’s fun to consider practical stuff like that.
Zombies are dumb, right? So what’s the greatest weapon in the zombie apocalypse? Smarts. I’ve tried to write novels that have smart, unique solutions to the zombie apocalypse rather than relying on shotguns and machetes all the time. Shotguns might work on the zombie in front of you, but the noise is going to bring in a dozen more zombies, while a machete is just plain stupid. It’s going to get stuck every time.
Q. You’re also a sci-fi aficionado. One work of yours that caught my eye is Little Green Men, about a crew of space travelers who set down on a frozen planet and are attacked by, sure enough, little green men. Is a story about trustworthy, non-murderous aliens possible? Does it say anything about us as humans that we have a tendency to think the worst about the possibility of life on other planets?
And by the way, I have a colleague named Alien Jones who is in fact, a little green man. He’s been totally above board thus far, but do you think I should keep an eye on him?
A. Little Green Men is brutal. It’s a homage to Philip K. Dick and has an alienesque feel to it (Alien Jones would love it), but yes, it is possible to write about trustworthy, non-murderous aliens. Anomaly is my best selling novel, having sold over 75,000 copies. Anomaly was my debut novel and even today, a dozen stories down the road, it still outsells everything else I’ve written. If you enjoyed Carl Sagan’s Contact, you’ll love Anomaly.
As for Alien Jones, he’s clearly hampered by a paranoid companion 🙂
Q. On your Amazon page, you talk a bit about the difference between general and “hard” science fiction. Could you explain it for my 3.5 readers?
A. Hard science fiction is a misnomer.
Science fiction shouldn’t be hard to understand or hard and inflexible. There’s merit in keeping scifi as accurate and plausible as possible. There’s always a degree of handwavium in science fiction when authors start projecting their thoughts into the future, but the limitations of concepts like the speed of light actually add to the realism of a story.
As much as I love the Star Trek reboots, I cringe when they ignore common sense. There’s one scene in Star Trek Into Darkness where Kirk is on the Klingon home world some undisclosed number of light years away from Earth, and he calls up Scotty on his handheld communicator. Scotty is in a bar on Earth and answers Kirk’s technical question. To me, that’s a wasted opportunity. Even if Kirk was somewhere within our solar system, say on Mars, Scotty couldn’t have a realtime chat like that, he’d be waiting at least half an hour for a message to arrive. Communication between star systems would be like the letters of the 1700s taking months to years to transit the globe. Star Trek Into Darkness wasted a wonderful opportunity, as instead of taking the lazy, easy way out, the writer could have used that limitation to drive up the tension. Sure, Scotty’s got the answers. But he’s not there, so Kirk has to figure it out on his own and that’s far more rewarding for the audience than watching Kirk being given a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Hard science isn’t difficult, it’s just plausible and believable, and it makes stories more gritty and realistic.
Q. Peter, thanks for taking my call. Before I go, do you have any advice that might help my friends and I survive the East Randomtown Zombie Apocalypse?
A. Think before you act. Remember,
- You’re smart. They’re not.
- They have numbers. You don’t.
Keep those two facts in mind and you’ll do fine. Oh, and keep a copy of What We Left Behind handy, you might find some good tips in there.
BQB’s Zombie Apocalypse Survivor’s Journal – Day 16
“Ms. Fighter! Ms. Fighter! Look!”
Kenny was a red headed, freckle faced boy, about eight years old. He and his friends were, much to VGRF’s dismay, Buildcrafting it up big time.
“I built my very own Roman era city, complete with a working aqueduct!”
“That’s great Ken.”
VGRF leaned in to whisper to me, “I think I’m just going to walk outside and take my chances with the zombies.”
“Looks like they’re already here,” I said, pointing to a dozen kids whose eyes were transfixed on the game. “What is the point of Buildcraft anyway?”
“There is no point,” VGRF said. “It is completely pointless. You just build and build and build some more. UGH! Why won’t you kids go to sleep so I can play Car Thief Mayhem?”
“One might argue that game is equally pointless,” Kenny said. “All you do on Car Thief Mayhem is destroy. At least here, I’m building something.
VGRF’s “I’ve been bested” look was always priceless.
“Shut up and fix your aqueduct, Kenny! Your columns are all crooked!”
Janey, a fourteen year old with a mouthful of braces, nudged Kenny.
“It’s my turn!”
“Fine,” Kenny said as he saved his aqueduct and turned the console over.
Janey popped in a disc marked The Shuffling Living: The Video Game Experience.
The Shuffling Living was the hottest show on television. It followed the adventures of champion zombie hunter Dirk Lane as he and his band of survivors migrated across a zombie infested landscape.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” VGRF said to Janey. “We’re stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and you’re going to play a video game about a zombie apocalypse?”
“It’s still a good video game!” Janey said.
“What do you do?” VGRF asked.
“There’s some stuff somewhere the group needs but its surrounded by zombies so you have to fight them to get to it,” Janey explained.
“Oh,” VGRF said, exercising her inner critic, “So it’s just like every last episode of that show then?”
“Pretty much,” Janey replied.
“You know we used to watch it every Sunday,” I said.
“Used to being the operative words,” VGRF said. “If I never see another zombie again it’ll be too soon.”
VGRF picked up the case for the game Janey was playing.
“Huh. PG13. I guess it’s ok for you then.”
She read on.
“Play as Dirk Lane and eradicate zombies or play as a zombie and feast on human brains!”
My significant other looked at me.
“This is sick! Who’d want to control a zombie in a video game?”
“That’s a good question,” I said as I whipped out the space phone. “And I know who can answer this…”
“Oh my God,” VGRF said as she snatched the phone away from me. “Stop being such a spotlight hog and let me do another interview already!”
Bookshelf Battle 